Why does Jeremiah mourn the day of his birth and call himself a man of strife and contention to the whole land?
This passage (Jeremiah 15:10–21) marks the second complex of Jeremiah’s confessions. In the passage he lays his complaint before the Lord (Jeremiah 15:10), the Lord responds (Jeremiah 15:11–14), Jeremiah speaks again (Jeremiah 15:15–18), and the Lord finally responds by recalling Jeremiah to his ministry as a prophet (Jeremiah 15:19–21).1
As Jeremiah lays his complaint before the Lord it is clear that the message he had to deliver in chapters Jeremiah 14:1–22 and Jeremiah 15:1–21 has brought much hardship to him personally. The two Hebrew words he uses to describe himself as a man of strife
(madon) and contention
(rib) make it clear that Jeremiah feels as though he is constantly taking his people to court, prosecuting them before the Lord.2 Jeremiah questions the day of his birth. His words seem to be a soliloquy as he speaks to himself, but with a deep awareness that the Lord is listening to his words. He is trying to understand the meaning of his life and ministry as someone who is sent to declare the Lord’s word to his people, and yet may not intercede for them when they reject it. If judgment is inevitable, then what is the point of his ministry?3
10 Malheur à moi, ma mère, de ce que tu m'as fait naître Homme de dispute et de querelle pour tout le pays! Je n'emprunte ni ne prête, Et cependant tous me maudissent.